Parasite
4/4
Starring: Woo-sik Choi, Kang-ho Song, So-dam Park, Jeong-eun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo, Sun-kyun Lee
Rated R for Language, Some Violence and Sexual Content
"Parasite" is a masterpiece. There, I said it. It's a twisted, strange and bizarre, but it's still a masterpiece. If there is a movie that tops it in the last few days of 2019, I will be very surprised. It's that good.
This is one of those movies where the less you know, the more fun you'll have. So I'll be vague. The film follows the Kim family: Ki-taek (Song) the patriarch, his wife Chung-sook (Jang), and their children Ki-woo (Choi) and Ki-jung (Park). Financially, they are struggling, having to result to folding pizza boxes to make money. One night, Ki-woo's friend Min (Seo-joon Park) comes by bearing a gift of a lucky rock and a proposition. He is the English tutor to the daughter of a wealthy couple, but he is going abroad, and suggests that Ki-woo take his place.
That's all I'll say. What's amazing about this movie is how many genres it covers and how many emotions it generates. How can a movie that is so funny be so tragic? And so suspenseful? I watched it enraptured from frame one, but every time I took a step back I was stunned at how elegantly it was constructed. I am in awe.
Of course, the danger with a movie that is determined to keep an audience guessing runs the risk of going too far and losing sight of the characters and their situation. That doesn't happen here. Director Bong Joon Ho is in total control and never falters. What makes this film work so well is that, as crazy as things get, it never feels contrived. Everything that happens feels like a logical extension of what came before, which is very impressive. I'm sure that, under close examination some things that happen won't hold up to close scrutiny, but if they don't, I don't care.
The consistently high level of acting also sells the film's numerous and unpredictable turns. To one degree or another, we like everyone in this movie (or at least sympathize with them). They also modulate their performances to the point where we can believe everything they say and do. Considering what happens, that's as high of a compliment as it sounds. The two stand outs are So-dam Park, who is clearly having fun in every sense of the word, and Yeo-jeong Jo, who makes for a great rich ditz.
Bong Joon Ho should pat himself on the back for making this movie. This is a movie that could have gone wrong in so many ways, yet it never does. The South Korean filmmaker made a bit of a splash with "The Host," which was too much of an obvious, self-aware homage for my taste. His American debut was the unoriginal but stylish "Snowpiercer," which I enjoyed more. But with "Parasite," he has really outdone himself. He shot for the stars and surpassed them. I'm excited to see what he does next.
It always breaks my heart that American audiences have such a knee-jerk bias against foreign films. When they are stuffy, emotionally inert dramas like "Mozart's Sister," I get it. But that reluctance to see something that doesn't star anyone they know or has subtitles means that they'll miss out on a movie like this. "Parasite" is one of those movies you want to tell everyone you know to see, even if you have to buy them their ticket.
This movie is so twisted, so unpredictable, and so damn good that I never wanted it to end. I wanted to know what crazy thing was going to happen next, and how the characters were going to react to it. Few films have held me in such a grip of excitement, fits of laughter and pure exhilaration. No matter how many films you've seen, you haven't seen anything like "Parasite."
Starring: Woo-sik Choi, Kang-ho Song, So-dam Park, Jeong-eun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo, Sun-kyun Lee
Rated R for Language, Some Violence and Sexual Content
"Parasite" is a masterpiece. There, I said it. It's a twisted, strange and bizarre, but it's still a masterpiece. If there is a movie that tops it in the last few days of 2019, I will be very surprised. It's that good.
This is one of those movies where the less you know, the more fun you'll have. So I'll be vague. The film follows the Kim family: Ki-taek (Song) the patriarch, his wife Chung-sook (Jang), and their children Ki-woo (Choi) and Ki-jung (Park). Financially, they are struggling, having to result to folding pizza boxes to make money. One night, Ki-woo's friend Min (Seo-joon Park) comes by bearing a gift of a lucky rock and a proposition. He is the English tutor to the daughter of a wealthy couple, but he is going abroad, and suggests that Ki-woo take his place.
That's all I'll say. What's amazing about this movie is how many genres it covers and how many emotions it generates. How can a movie that is so funny be so tragic? And so suspenseful? I watched it enraptured from frame one, but every time I took a step back I was stunned at how elegantly it was constructed. I am in awe.
Of course, the danger with a movie that is determined to keep an audience guessing runs the risk of going too far and losing sight of the characters and their situation. That doesn't happen here. Director Bong Joon Ho is in total control and never falters. What makes this film work so well is that, as crazy as things get, it never feels contrived. Everything that happens feels like a logical extension of what came before, which is very impressive. I'm sure that, under close examination some things that happen won't hold up to close scrutiny, but if they don't, I don't care.
The consistently high level of acting also sells the film's numerous and unpredictable turns. To one degree or another, we like everyone in this movie (or at least sympathize with them). They also modulate their performances to the point where we can believe everything they say and do. Considering what happens, that's as high of a compliment as it sounds. The two stand outs are So-dam Park, who is clearly having fun in every sense of the word, and Yeo-jeong Jo, who makes for a great rich ditz.
Bong Joon Ho should pat himself on the back for making this movie. This is a movie that could have gone wrong in so many ways, yet it never does. The South Korean filmmaker made a bit of a splash with "The Host," which was too much of an obvious, self-aware homage for my taste. His American debut was the unoriginal but stylish "Snowpiercer," which I enjoyed more. But with "Parasite," he has really outdone himself. He shot for the stars and surpassed them. I'm excited to see what he does next.
It always breaks my heart that American audiences have such a knee-jerk bias against foreign films. When they are stuffy, emotionally inert dramas like "Mozart's Sister," I get it. But that reluctance to see something that doesn't star anyone they know or has subtitles means that they'll miss out on a movie like this. "Parasite" is one of those movies you want to tell everyone you know to see, even if you have to buy them their ticket.
This movie is so twisted, so unpredictable, and so damn good that I never wanted it to end. I wanted to know what crazy thing was going to happen next, and how the characters were going to react to it. Few films have held me in such a grip of excitement, fits of laughter and pure exhilaration. No matter how many films you've seen, you haven't seen anything like "Parasite."
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